September 9, 2013 - Harvest Monday

Harvest Recap for the Week of September 2 - September 8

I harvested a lot of cherry tomatoes this week but didn't photograph them all.  Most of the tomatoes were made into juice, two quarts for Son Scott and two quarts for us.  I put 1-1/2 gallons of sliced sweet peppers in the freezer, but I gave away all of the green beans, summer squash and broccoli to the two sons.  I personally consumed both of the parsnips, and they were delicious.  The last of the summer carrots were pulled, except for a very few small ones.  This year's carrot harvest was disappointing.  I hope my fall planted carrots have time to mature.  This was the last week for summer squash and zucchini, as the plants were all pulled.  It was probably the last week for strawberries as well, as they are now rotting before they ripen.  I've been moving a few plants, so maybe I will still get a few decent berries once they get some air circulation.

So far 16 butternut squash (57 pounds) have been harvested.  We ate one and gave Son John two.    
Total for week: 67 pounds
Total year to date: 748 pounds

Daphne's Dandelions is the host for Harvest Monday.

27 comments:

  1. Another beautiful harvest week. Fall must be approaching cause i can see a shift in your harvest. A lot less tomatoes and the squash are done!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stoney, the squash weren't done, but we were sick of them! No more room in the freezers, and neither of us wanted to look at another summer squash again.....for the rest of this season, of course! I lost all but three of the main tomato plants to diseases this year, so the tomato production really fell off.

      Delete
  2. As always you have a beautiful harvest! I am also harvesting my winter squash and pumpkins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you,4theluvof. I think I still have at least 20 butternuts left to harvest. Thankfully they keep well over winter in our garage!

      Delete
  3. Beautiful butternuts!
    I only have a few this year, but the way it went with warm weather crops, I guess I'm glad to have them (for trading).
    I always think you should put a produce stand up in front of your house. You've got the bestest (that's a word, you know. Hubby says it all the time!) produce around and it looks so pretty all arranged.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sue, I have plenty of butternuts for us, all the kids and the neighbors! I don't know the exact number still left in the garden, but I can see ten more hanging on the fence.

      Delete
  4. That is an impressive amount of butternut squash you have there. My mom has quite a bunch too, though she should since she planted the entire package! Glad you enjoyed your 2 parsnips, I have not grown them successfully yet. Maybe I will try again, I have one package to use up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shawn Ann, you haven't seen the end of the butternuts yet! Thankfully, I only planted 3 hills of them.

      Delete
  5. Another beautiful harvest. I wish I could be your garden intern. Love that line-up of butternuts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Nutmeg. I wish you were here to intern. Today I would have had you building good garden soil by mowing the lawn with the push mower, catching the grass and layering it on the garden bed with composted manure. Three thick layers of clippings topped with three thick layers of manure....all hauled into the garden in a bucket, and I'm worn out!

      Delete
    2. Well no wonder you're worn out! But I am listening to you and need to push myself to do some of these things that work so well for you! I'll keep you posted, lol!

      Delete
    3. After a brief rest, my intern can pick the bush beans, the pole beans, the sweet peppers and tomatoes while I bake a loaf of French bread and start the spaghetti sauce for dinner!

      Delete
  6. I hope I get that many butternuts. My daughter is home this year and she loves her squash casserole. I made one yesterday (from last year's frozen squash) and she ate the whole thing. Well she did let me have a little.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bought four turkey breasts on sale last week, so I'll be having roast turkey and butternut squash with brown sugar and butter for quite a few meals in the near future! Of course, I'll have to sneak in a "pumpkin" pie. A couple of the smaller ones weren't quite ripe enough, but they were accidentally broken off. I can mix them with a ripe one for the pie filling. Although I'm quite sure they would ripen if left alone. The unripe ones I picked for my Halloween decorations last year finished ripening in the garage.

      Delete
  7. I am growing butternuts next year! Amazing harvest you have there- I had my lemon squash doing great until a ground hog decided to climb over the fence and eat the plants to the ground!He even came up on my porch and was looking in the window the other day..he is really cute but getting a bit to bold-lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh no, Robbie. Do you have a good recipe for groundhog stew? ;-)

      Delete
  8. Your harvest is nice but that is a lot of wonderful butternuts!! Your sons are lucky that their Mom grows extra for them! Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, 57 pounds of squash! That's at least a 5 year supply for me. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michelle, last year I grew 192 pounds, and only 3 didn't get given away or eaten by us. One spoiled, and the last two got composted only when I picked the first fresh one this year! They stored great in the garage for a full year. Only slight deterioration, with the seed end getting a bit fibrous. The neck stayed firm and sweet.

      Delete
  10. Our butternut was a bust this year :( Like you, we're hoping our fall planted carrots have time to mature, beets too. Everything look delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jody, my carrots and beets were a bust this year. I don't think my fall beets are going to amount to much, and the carrots are still really small. Last year I harvested 37 pounds of carrots, this year only 11 pounds!

      Delete
  11. Holy Butternuts, Carol! That is a lot of possible soup!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Holy Cow, Cloud. Mr. Granny would run away from home if I fed him butternut soup! It gets baked and smashed up with butter and brown sugar in this house. Or I sneak it into "pumpkin" pies.

      Delete
  12. my daughter lives in eastern wa. she is on a well and it is so hot to plant and she does not do well in the heat due to health issues. What a lovely crop. I like acorn squash. We have cold weather even though we have a green house. We put things out in May and by the time we get heat it is so hot we can not keep up with the water. We have city water. So our gardening veggies is getting less and less each yr.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda, it does get awfully hot here in eastern WA. We had multiple days that got way over 100F this year, and the garden did suffer a bit from it. The veggies just kind of go on vacation in that kind of weather! There was a lot of blossom drop on the tomatoes and peppers, and my root crops didn't do well at all. I'm very thankful for the unlimited irrigation water we have available to us. It's off for the winter now, so I'm having to use a watering can and house water on the few things still growing. Is your daughter near the Tri-Cities?

      Delete